The present disclosure relates generally to information handling systems, and more particularly to cooling a component that is externally mounted on a chassis of an information handling system.
As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems. An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information. Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated. The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems, and networking systems.
It has become desirable to reduce the size of information handling systems. For example, the reduction in size of many information handling components has allowed for corresponding reductions in the size of the chassis utilized with desktop computing devices, laptop/notebook computing devices, tablet computing devices, mobile phones, and other computing devices known in the art. However, in many situations it may be desirable to expand the functionality of such computing devices by adding components to the computing device, and the limited volume available in the chassis may prevent or hinder that expansion. A common solution to such issues is to provide desired components external to the chassis, but these and similar solutions experience issues when such external components require supplemental cooling, as the cooling systems for the computing device are provided internal to the chassis (i.e., in a chassis housing.) As such, a separate, external cooling system must be provided for those external components in order to allow them to operate at full capacity.
Accordingly, it would be desirable to provide an improved system for cooling external components.